EACH DAY GETS BETTER

Sunday, 30 October 2011

Words Of Wisdom

10 Things You Should Be Able To Say Before You Die

“Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness.
Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your
friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all
there is.”
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Many moons from now, just before you take your final breath, I hope,
for your sake, that you are able to repeat the following ten headlines
to yourself, honestly.

1. I followed my heart and intuition.

As our friend Steve Jobs says:
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s
life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of
other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown
out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already
know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
This is your life, and it’s a short one. Don’t accept false
choices. Don’t let others put a cage around you. Try what you want to
try. Go where you want to go. Follow your own intuition. Read Quitter.

2. I said what I needed to say.

Everyone has this little watchdog inside their head. It’s always
there watching you. It was born and raised by your family, friends,
coworkers, bosses and society at large, and its sole purpose is to
watch you and make sure you stay in line. And once you become
accustomed to the watchdog’s presence, you begin to
think his opinion of what’s acceptable and unacceptable are absolute
truths. But the watchdog’s views are not truths, they’re just opinions
– forceful opinions that have the potential to completely brainwash you
of your own opinions if you aren’t careful.
Remember, the watchdog is just a watchdog, he just watches. He
can’t actually control you. He can’t do anything about it if you
decide to rise up and go against the grain.
No, you should not start randomly cussing and acting like a fool.
But you must say what you need to say when you need to say it. It may
be your only chance to do so.
Don’t censor yourself. Speak the truth. Your truth.

3. I did what I needed to do.

Every morning you are faced with two choices: You can aimlessly
stumble through the day not knowing what’s going to happen and simply
react to events at a moment’s notice, or you can go through the day
directing your own life and making your own decisions and destiny.
The greatest gift extraordinarily successful people have over
average people is their ability to get themselves to take action – to
physically do something about getting from where they are now to where
they want to be. And no, it won’t be easy. But in the end, suffering
from the pain of discipline while you do what you need to do is a whole
lot easier than suffering from the regret and disappointment of never
fulfilling any of your dreams.

4. I made a difference.

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
In life, you get what you put in. When you make a positive impact
in someone else’s life, you also make a positive impact in your own
life. Do something that’s greater than you – something that helps
someone else to be happy or to suffer less.
Doing something nice for someone can change the world. Maybe not the whole world, but their world. Read How To Win Friends and Influence People.

5. I know what true love is.

Finding a companion or a friend isn’t about trying to transform
yourself into the perfect image of what you think they want. It’s
about being exactly who you are and then finding someone who
appreciates that. Relationships must be chosen wisely. It’s better to
be alone than to be in bad company. There’s no need to rush. If
something is meant to be, it will happen – in the right time, with the
right person, and for the best reason.
As with all things of the heart, there is an ingredient of magic in
finding love. There are no coincidences. Everything happens for a
reason. Love is beautiful and unpredictable. The best thing you can
do is to start to become the most outstanding person possible. The
universe will know when you are ready, and when you are, true love will
happen, unexpectedly.

6. I am happy and grateful.

Very little is needed to create happiness. It is all within you, in
your way of thinking. How you view yourself and your world are
conscious choices and habits. The lens you choose to view everything
through determines how you feel about yourself and everything that
happens around you. You must choose to be happy.
A big part of this is simply being grateful for what you have. As
Mick Jagger once said, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you
try sometimes you might find you get what you need.” Look around.
Appreciate the things you have right now. Many people aren’t so
lucky. Read 12 Things Happy People Do Differently.

7. I am proud of myself.

You are your own best friend and your own biggest critic.
Regardless of the opinions of others, at the end of the day the only
reflection staring back at you in the mirror is your own. How you feel
about this person is vital to your long-term wellbeing.
Being proud of yourself is also known as having strong self-esteem.
People who are proud of themselves tend to have passions in life, feel
content and set good examples for others. It requires envisioning the
person you would like to become and making your best efforts to grow as
an individual.
Being proud isn’t bragging about how great you are. It’s more like
quietly knowing that you’re worth a lot. It’s not about thinking
you’re perfect – because nobody is – but knowing that you’re worthy of
being loved and accepted. Boost your self-esteem by recognizing your
accomplishments and celebrating them. Acknowledge your positive
qualities, and when you come across a quality in yourself that you
aren’t proud of, don’t sulk in your sorrows, proactively work on
correcting it. Read Today We Are Rich.

8. I became the best version of me.

It’s a good idea to be yourself, not only because everybody else is
taken, but because trying to be anything else doesn’t usually get you
very far. Trying to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.
Strength, success and contentment come from being comfortable in your
own skin.
Judy Garland once said, “Always be a first rate version of yourself
instead of a second rate version of somebody else.” Live by this
statement. There is no such thing as living in someone else’s shoes.
The only shoes you can occupy are your own. If you aren’t being
yourself, you aren’t truly living – you’re merely existing.
Remember, at any given moment, you are in competition with one
person and one person only – yourself. You are competing to be the best
you can be.

9. I forgave those who hurt me.

We’ve all been hurt by another person at some point or another – we
were treated badly, trust was broken, hearts were hurt. And while this
pain is normal, sometimes that pain lingers for too long. We relive
the pain over and over and have a hard time letting go.
This causes problems. It not only causes us to be unhappy, but can
strain or ruin relationships, distract us from work and family and
other important things, make us reluctant to open up to new things and
people. We get trapped in a cycle of anger and hurt, and miss out on
the beauty of life as it happens.
Grudges are a waste of perfect happiness. To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.

10. I have no regrets.

This one is a culmination of the previous nine headlines…
Follow your heart. Be true to yourself. Do what you need to do
fulfill your dreams. Say what you need to say. Be kind to others.
Offer a helping hand when you’re able. Love those who deserve to be
loved, and cherish the bond you share. Appreciate all the things you
do have. Smile. Celebrate your small victories. Learn from your
mistakes. Forgive. And let go of the things you can’t change.